[opendtv] Re: News: Tuning In Mobile TV--Chinese Style
- From: "John Willkie" <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:40:32 -0800
No, Bob. Once again, you set the bar high for what you favor, and set it low
for what you don't favor.
If you are adding 50% to the $10 per day, you need to add 50% to the $300.
The wage figure I gave you is actually the URBAN wage; the average pay in
rural areas is lower.
Also, since I listen to news all the time, I know that China has done some
things recently to cut wage increases and hopefully inflation.
China also probably has more taco-eaters than the U.S. population. But, the
U.S. cellphone penetration is now 80%. Remember Dermot's prediction that it
won't get that high? I don't think that China has 80% cellphone
penetration, even with Chinese-sourced cellphones.
China's government thinks the biggest problem with the Chinese economy is
inflation and they are trying to do something about it. If I read what you
say below correctly, you believe that inflation is an asset.
Electronics get cheaper over time, sure.
John Willkie
_____
De: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] En
nombre de Bob Miller
Enviado el: Thursday, February 28, 2008 9:24 AM
Para: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Asunto: [opendtv] Re: News: Tuning In Mobile TV--Chinese Style
"Real" is a moving target. Wages in China are growing at 15% or more a year.
Couple that with the vastly over valued US dollar in comparison to the
Chinese Yuan or 50% IMO means that your $10 a day is really $15 and will be
$17.25 next year after the Olympics. And the devices that they will buy to
receive OTA DTV mobile or otherwise are being made in China and will be very
inexpensive. List price for an HD OTA receiver was pegged at $25 a year ago.
Also they have a lot of people so maybe a small portion say 300 million make
far more than $15 a day since that is the average in a country where maybe
500 million make less than a $1 a day.
China already has more cell phone users than the US has population. I expect
that in a few years they will have more OTA DTV receivers than the US
population as well.
Bob Miller
On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 11:59 AM, John Willkie <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Wow. Will this be a "bigger thing" and lead to adoption, unlike - say - the
hype about the mobile broadcasts of the last World Cup?
Time to get real. The average wage in China is less than $10 a day. Don't
pay rent or buy food or anything for a month, and the average person can
afford one of these things. Or - perhaps - you can buy a used TV set for
$20, and you can still eat.
"This would also be a boon for mobile TV around the world. Despite success
in countries like Japan, Korea and Italy, which began broadcasting mobile
digital TV as early as 2005, the technology has yet to take off worldwide."
Makes one wonder just how that "success" is defined.
John Willkie
_____
De: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] En
nombre de Bob Miller
Enviado el: Thursday, February 28, 2008 6:57 AM
Para: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Asunto: [opendtv] Re: News: Tuning In Mobile TV--Chinese Style
I was just going to post this when I found yours. Good article but it only
skims the surface. It is the wild wild far west China is. Read this
frustrated account by one writer on the present situation in China. I try to
keep informed but even people near the top in China don't seem to know what
is going on in China and it keeps changing even faster then their acronyms.
One of these acronyms is and has been on and off the air in the US since
November using an STA.
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/01/14/china-ignores-standards-group-press
es-on-with-weird-network-for/
Bob Miller
On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 8:13 AM, Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://www.forbes.com/2008/02/27/china-mobile-tv-tech-wireless-cx_ew_0227chi
nawire.html?partner=alerts
Tuning In Mobile TV--Chinese Style
Elizabeth Woyke 02.27.08, 6:00 PM ET
Less than a generation ago, Chinese villagers crowded around
newspapers pasted to walls in the center of town to read the latest
news. But by this August, millions of Chinese will watch
up-to-the-minute Olympic contests on their own handheld mobile TVs.
Many Chinese can already catch analog television signals on some
handheld devices. The Chinese government, however, intends to use the
Olympics to showcase the next wave of digital mobile TV, based on
standards developed in China.
Huaqi, a Beijing manufacturer of handheld devices, is planning to
build inexpensive, user-friendly portable media players and
navigation devices. Four different models, priced around $300 apiece,
will debut in June, says Guo Hongzhi, Huaqi's general manager of
resource management. Outfitted with 4.3-inch screens, they will also
be able to play music and video and will eventually incorporate
global positioning satellite data and wi-fi.
Some of the nuts-and-bolts technology, however, is coming from
elsewhere. Alon Ironi runs Siano Mobile Silicon, an Israeli firm that
makes the specialty TV receiver chips that receive signals encoded
using the unique Chinese standards. Siano's chips can receive both
satellite and terrestrial signals--an unusual combination that will
eventually make the network more affordable, Ironi predicts. For now,
that's hardly a concern: The Chinese government plans to subsidize
the mobile digital TV service for the first year to whet Chinese
users' enthusiasm for the technology.
"Every handheld device with a screen will have digital TV in a couple
of years," says Ironi. "We are putting emphasis on China, where we
have a few very powerful partners."
The Olympics promise to be a picture-perfect showcase for China's
digital mobile TV service. Work on digital TV has been going on for
several years. Public trials in 35 cities are slated to begin in
April. By the time of the highly anticipated Aug. 8 opening day of
the games, China plans to be broadcasting digital mobile television
to 65 cities throughout the country.
The magnitude of the Chinese mobile market, the largest in the world,
with more than 540 million subscribers, means that the summertime
experiment could turn into big business.
This would also be a boon for mobile TV around the world. Despite
success in countries like Japan, Korea and Italy, which began
broadcasting mobile digital TV as early as 2005, the technology has
yet to take off worldwide.
Mobile TV has big challenges. Receiver chips must be energy-efficient
to preserve battery life--an important consideration in any mobile
device. At the same time, they must be sensitive enough to transform
even weak TV signals into clear images and function in sheltered
places, like garages, and at moderate speeds, such as on trains or in
fast-moving cars.
Clashing standards have slowed adoption. Like many cellular
technologies, mobile TV standards differ by region, forming an
alphabet soup of acronyms: wireless technology company Qualcomm's
MediaFLO in the U.S., DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting for
Handhelds) in Europe, T-DMB (Terrestrial Digital Multimedia
Broadcast) in Korea, and ISDB-T (Integrated Services Digital
Broadcasting - Terrestrial) in Japan and Brazil. The standards are
largely incompatible.
That fragmentation extends to business models. There are "free to
air" services, which, like basic TV channels, can be picked up by any
device with the right chip or receiver--no service provider
necessary. Particularly popular in Latin America, the Middle East and
parts of Asia, these channels generally offer the same programs a
home TV would show for free. Then there's the paid model, predominant
in the U.S., in which mobile carriers provide premium TV shows to
subscribers for a fee.
China, not surprisingly, is forging its own path, one that mixes free
and paid access. Its unique standard, CMMB (China Multimedia Mobile
Broadcasting), is digital, based on homegrown technology and
specifically designed for mobile broadcasting. It has the coveted
approval of the State Administration for Radio, Film and Television.
Signals can be broadcast from towers and via satellites. Other
Chinese chip makers, including InnoFidei and Telepath Technologies,
are also developing products around the standard.
This summer, there will be only nine or 10 channels. CMB Satellite, a
Hong Kong-based affiliate of Dish Network, has been tapped to supply
the programming, including content from China's state broadcaster
CCTV--host of the Olympics--and from local broadcasters. In April
2009, the service will expand to around 30 channels and start
charging monthly subscriptions.
Proponents say China is a natural market for mobile TV. Siano's Ironi
predicts the technology will be as popular in China as it is in
Japan, where 10% of the population, or 12 million people, regularly
watch mobile TV. "As one of the tech initiatives the [Chinese]
government is pushing related to the Olympics, the technology will
certainly gain awareness," says Mike Wolf, a research director at ABI
Research.
It worked in Italy. During the 2006 World Cup, Italy spearheaded a
similar campaign, ramping up coverage and rolling out new video
phones to showcase the European mobile TV standard, DVB-H. Despite a
few early glitches, Italy has now become one of the most advanced
markets for mobile TV.
A push in China could make 2008 the year mobile TV finally hits its
stride. Wolf predicts the number of mobile TV subscribers worldwide
will reach 462 million by 2012, up from a mere 23.8 million today.
Asian markets, particularly China, will drive most of the growth as
phone processors and screens improve and network access gets faster
and cheaper, he says. "It's a greenfield opportunity," says Wolf.
For those Chinese not able to get their hands on the new digital
mobile handheld devices, there's still old-fashioned analog
broadcasts. Sam Sheng, the chief technology officer of Telegent, a
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based start-up that makes the chips, says Telegent
has sold 2.5 million chips to manufacturers, including ZTE, which put
the chips in $150 handsets. Sheng expects the older and new
technologies to coexist until China phases out analog TV, possibly
around 2015.
"It's a way to watch your favorite soap opera today without waiting
for a billion-dollar infrastructure buildout," says Sheng.
He's expecting a boost from the Olympics too. "The average Joes,"
Sheng predicts, "will watch it on our handsets."
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